Scare Yourself Up Against the Wall
by mur xo
Summary: Lily finds a boggart in James' room and the two of them are more than a little surprised at Lily's worst fear.


**Disclaimer: **I, of course, own absolutely nothing. I don't own Hogwarts and I don't own anything that has to do with magic. If I had a mind as creative as that then I wouldn't be wasting my time writing fanfictions.

**Author's Note:** I completely stole this plot from OOTP. It originally was supposed to be a spider dear Lily was afraid of, but it wouldn't have created nearly as much angst. I'm not happy with this story. Half-way through it my Lily/James muse left me. Instead, Harry/Draco took it's place. To fix that, I started writing a Harry/Draco fic. Except I'm not sure whether I'm going to make it a one-shot or not. Anyways, I couldn't leave this poor story unfinished, so I trudged through it, and it's not wonderful. Sorry in advance. : )

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The Heads Common Room was austere and dismal, as one of its occupants scrunched herself up in a ball on a plush red sofa. The other occupant that was normally confined to the common room was wrapped up in a Quidditch match. It was Slytherin vs. Gryffindor, so of course the male counterpart to the Head Girl was charmed to show off his skills as a seventh year Chaser. As the term was coming to a close, and Christmas holidays were rolling around, nearly every student went to witness the game. Already swollen with festive spirits, the scheduled Quidditch game only helped in stirring them further. It seemed as if the castle was vacant. Outside of the common rooms not a footstep could be heard. The Quidditch Pitch, designed to hold many occupants, was bustling with professors and students alike. It seemed as if the bleachers were filled to maximum capacity and just one more person might have caused the tattered wood to combust under pressure. The day was merry and full of excitement for the students who attended Hogwarts. That is, every student who attended Hogwarts aside from Lily Evans. 

Lily Evans had been in a foul mood since she had woken up. It was rare to see the good-natured, charming girl in such a unpleasant disposition. However, no one could really blame her. Anyone who had to spend their school year, a chance to finally get away from petulant pests who lingered at home, with James Potter was sure to lose their composure eventually. Lily could only take so much of him. His constant bragging, his arrogance, his pack of girls who seemed to follow him everywhere he went; they were all just too much for Lily. At first she ignored it. Lily was good at ignoring poor behavior. During the summer holidays, the only want to salvage some peace and quiet was to completely ignore her dreaded sister. Living in tight quarters with James Potter was no different. Except, Lily simply couldn't overlook the fact that James Potter had the capability of turning her into a raving lunatic in two seconds flat. It had only been three and a half months, and Lily Evans was already growing sick of him. The numerous pranks he pulled, even though he was Head Boy, was positively childish. The number of times he flaunted himself in front of girls, in a desperate act for their attention, was pathetic. The way he carried himself, the cocky attitude he upheld, equaled that of Slytherin arrogance. Oh, James bloody Potter wasn't fit to live with someone, let alone Lily Evans.

As a girl who wasn't particularly fond of confrontations, Lily had kept her opinions of him to herself. When they both shared the Gryffindor Common Room, things had been a bit more bearable. Lily had no problem telling him exactly what she thought of him then. But now, where the two of them were secluded in their a common room of their own, things were much more intimate. If Lily exploded on him, James would have done the same thing. Grudges would have been held and that was no way for Lily to spend her final year at Hogwarts. Personally speaking, Lily didn't need the kind of stress James seemed to provide for her. Bottling up her emotions only led to a huge, disastrous, blowout. Honestly, Lily didn't regret a single word that came out of her mouth as she yelled insults to James.

It started off simple enough. Lily had walked into the shared Heads bathroom, took a shower, and got dressed into her Hogwarts robes. James found it hysterically funny to walk in on poor Lily as she was slipping into her clothing. James meant no harm, of course, aside from a nice laugh. He had chuckled softly, whistling at Lily, although his eyes never left her face. With her dignity lost, Lily turned a brilliant shade of red, as she hurriedly fixed her clothes. By the time she was finished, James had left his spot at the door. Lily had a faint idea of where James might have been heading off to. His favorite companion, and his fellow Marauder, Sirius Black, was also into counting notches on his bedpost. She could only imagine James discussing what he had witnessed to Sirius and Sirius' hearty laughter at his friend's story. The more she pictured it, the more enraged Lily became. With a rash decision, Lily came flying out of the bathroom, and stormed into the common room's living quarters. To her surprise, James laid sprawled out on the sofa. Of course, that hadn't stopped Lily from insulting him and throwing a hex in his direction. Lily Evans wasn't someone to be messed around with.

That was the soul reason why Lily wasn't engaging in the Quidditch merriment on this particular afternoon. She didn't care to see James' face any time soon. By going to the game, watching him twirl around on his broom like he owned the pitch, Lily might send him the wrong idea. The last thing she wanted to do was give him the impression that she _forgave_ him. No, Lily was far from the forgiveness stage. Lily took the time that she had alone in the common room to calm herself down. As a good student, and usually well-behaved one at that, Lily could afford a few misdemeanors. Although, she found it highly improbable that she would get away with cursing James Potter every time he was in close vicinity of her. So, she vowed to work on controlling that temper of hers.

As she laid on the sofa, her head resting on the back cushions, a frown was apparent on her face. Her head tilted slightly as she heard a faint clatter coming from James' dormitory. Dismissing the sound with a wave of her hand, Lily focused her attention on the bumps in the ceiling instead. Her mind whirled back to James Potter and his utter ignorance and obliviousness to the entire world, when she heard the sound again. This time it was louder and much more difficult to ignore.

Lily's pale hand urgently reached into her robe pocket, wrapping her cool fingers around her wand securely. Nibbling on her bottom lip, Lily quietly got off of the sofa and cautiously entered James' room. Clothes were piled miles high on the floor, his empty trunk was left wide open next to the armoire, and his school robes replaced his Quidditch ones as a ball in the corner of the room. If Lily hadn't been so preoccupied with the source of the foreign noise, she surely would have rolled her eyes at the sight of James' outlandishly large mess.

As Lily's eyes scanned over the room, her hand drew the wand out of it's safe hold in her pocket. Hogwarts was known for it's prestigious students and it's safe quarters. There wasn't a thing Lily should have had to worry about, really. Her tense body relaxed a bit as the thought crossed her mind. Obviously there wasn't anything _life_ threatening in James' room, otherwise the Headmaster would have been up there in a heartbeat. But, as the noise sounded once more, and a large black box beside James' bed shook vehemently, all rationale fled from Lily's mind. It was almost as if the box had a life of it's own, racking itself from demons stashed inside. It was odd how the box rumbled one minute and was completely still the next. There was only one thing Lily knew that was capable of that. A boggart had the ability to cause a complete ruckus and then calm itself into a lulling ease. However, that thought was anything but encouraging. What in Merlin's name was a boggart doing in James Potter's dormitory?

Squeezing her face into a look of downright determination, Lily brought her wand to the black box. As her wand tapped the lock to expel the boggart and get rid of it, a rugged male's voice sounded.

"Lily… Lily, what are you… No!"

James Potter, caked with sweat and dirt, his hair flying in an unmistakable wind blown disarray, came running over to the opened box. Lily didn't have time to spare a glare at James as she pointed her wand at the boggart. Just as she was about to mutter the spell to get rid of the boggart once and for all, she dropped her wand. There, standing in front of her, was James Potter. The boggart took the shape of a lifeless James Potter, laying dead on the carpet. Lily opened her mouth, and closed it, her hand trying to search the ground for her wand without taking her eyes off of James' unmoving body.

With wide eyes, James looked at himself laying dead on the floor. His eyes moved from the terrified Lily, to her greatest fear. The sound of her chocked sobs was all James needed to snap himself out of his temporary trance. Protectiveness for Lily Evans overcame the desire to keep the boggart for a prank to pull on Snape, as it's original intention was.

"Riddikulus!" James stated firmly, as the boggart took the form of Professor Slughorn wearing a bikini. With a string of words muttered under his breath, and a flick of his wrist, the remains of the boggart banished. His attention was once again brought to the wide-eyed, shell-shocked Lily Evans, who had sobs heaving her small frame.

"Er, Lily?" His voice was soft, as if questioning her intentions. James wondered if she would have a go with him because he kept the boggart in his room. If she did, he was more than willing to give it right back to her. After all, it was Lily and her own free will that decided to venture into his room. James would have been plenty worked up by that if Lily's worst fear wasn't seeing him dead. To say that changed things a bit, that it was a small break in the normal faked hatred between the two, would be a devastating understatement.

Lily simply shook her head, and placed her head in her hands, her cheeks flushing from a mix of embarrassment and fear.

"Lily, look at me." James walked over to her and placed an arm on each of her shoulders, shaking them gently. He stopped when her emerald eyes, wet with tears, met his.

"I'm such an idiot!" Lily babbled, more tears cascading down her tearstained cheeks. Nevertheless, Lily grabbed a fistful of James' robes and clung onto him gently. "I… I… You…" Lily flew her free hand, the one that wasn't gripping onto James' Quidditch robes, towards the ground where his body had been laying motionless moments before.

"Lily, it's okay. It's just a boggart. It's not real." James said softly, placing his arm around Lily's shoulders and drawing her tightly towards him.

"You weren't moving!" She exclaimed softly, tears welling up in her eyes once again. "You weren't _breathing_!"

James moved his hands so they enveloped Lily's face, his chestnut eyes boring into her. "That wasn't me, Lily. It's okay." His voice lowered some more, his hand moving gently against Lily's face.

In response, Lily closed her eyes and wrapped her own arms around James' neck. Slowly she reached up and placed her lips on top of his, pressing them more firmly as James responded. As they broke apart, Lily ran one of her hands through his permanently disheveled hair and closed her eyes.

"Don't you ever scare me like that again." And with a final nod from James, Lily once again captured his lips with hers.

It was funny, really, how it took a boggart to bring Lily Evans and James Potter together. But both were more than happy that it took the liberties to do so.

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Feedback from wonderful _readers like you_ would be very much appreciated. 

- Muriel.


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